1. You, kind and gentle reader. I got a lovely letter full of encouragement from one of you a few weeks ago and this morning I was thinking about how lucky I am that there are still people showing up here, even though I’ve written so much less often these past few years. Thank you for all of that — the love, the encouragement, the patience, the listening, the showing up.

2. Morning walks. This week, I did one without a headlamp because it was already so light out at 5:30 am. We tried to find the den of baby foxes, but it seems like mama may have moved them. We got more snow, but things are turning green and blooming and the river is filling up from snow melt higher up.

3. Flowers in the bathroom. I knew my remaining daffodils wouldn’t survive the snow, so I cut and brought them inside. My friend Emily sent me bulbs a few years ago, when she saw me on Facebook saying how much I loved them but always forget every year until it was too late to plant. Every year since, they surprise me first thing in spring, and I am reminded how easy and wonderful love and kindness can be.

4. Nine more days at CSU!!! This afternoon, there’s a celebration in my honor. Yesterday I found out that my last day of work would be the last day I’d have access to my email, so I started deleting everything, which felt weird but also thrilling. It’s officially now the moment where I don’t do anything new, but rather finish up what I’m working on and start clearing out. For nineteen years this has been a central part of my life. I was really good at it and loved most of the people I worked with but I also had one foot out the door for some time. It was never my “thing,” but rather the best job option “for now” and there’s a sense of excitement that I finally am going to have the space and time to honor and prioritize my own intentions.

5. My tiny family. They are essential.

Bonus joy: no I don’t have a new puppy but Chloe’ does!, sunshine, getting enough sleep (whatever that even means), a new therapy for my knee that seems like a particular kind of magic because I don’t understand exactly how it works but it does and I have easy access to it, teaching yoga, appliances that work, clean water, electricity, fresh good food, the internet, good books, TV that’s just good enough to keep me entertained but not so good that I have to give it my full attention, spring, blooms, bird song, saying “no,” massages, clean sheets, a good physical therapist, being able to email my doctor instead of having to call or make an appointment, the call to my insurance company being easy and fast, my “new” car, having dogs that are/were so awesome you still miss them like crazy a decade later, hummingbirds, the particular blue of robin eggs.